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'Social Media ID, Please?' Proposed US Law Greeted With Anger (computerworld.com) 220

Posted by EditorDavid from the view-comments dept.
The U.S. government announced plans to require some foreign travelers to provide their social media account names when entering the country -- and in June requested comments. Now the plan is being called "ludicrous," an "all-around bad idea," "blatant overreach," "desperate, paranoid heavy-handedness," "preposterous," "appalling," and "un-American," reports Slashdot reader dcblogs: That's just a sampling of the outrage. Some 800 responded to the U.S. request for comments about a proposed rule affecting people traveling from "visa waiver" countries to the U.S., where a visa is not required. This includes most of Europe, Singapore, Chile, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand... In a little twist of irony, some critics said U.S. President Obama's proposal for foreign travelers is so bad, it must have been hatched by Donald Trump.
"Travelers will be asked to provide their Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+, and whatever other social ID you can imagine to U.S. authorities," reports Computer World. "It's technically an 'optional' request, but since it's the government asking, critics believe travelers will fear consequences if they ignore it..."
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'Social Media ID, Please?' Proposed US Law Greeted With Anger More

'Social Media ID, Please?' Proposed US Law Greeted With Anger

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  • The whole idea is stupid (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 27, 2016 @06:32PM (#52782783)

    Do they really think that if some ISIS guy flies in, he's going to fill out the customs form honestly and say "Yep, my Twitter handle is @jihad4lyfe!" It's preposterous to think this would be effective at gathering any sort of reasonable intelligence.

    • Re:The whole idea is stupid (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MrLint ( 519792 ) on Saturday August 27, 2016 @06:46PM (#52782833) Journal
      Sounds like another "Common Sense" government 'list'!

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Copid ( 137416 )
      I'm actually not sure about this. There seem to be a lot of people who are more than happy to post about their crimes and questionable affiliations on their social media accounts, even when they should be pretty sure the police will be looking for them. It certainly won't catch sophisticated terrorists, but it seems like it would probably catch a lot of problem cases since a high percentage of problem cases really are total idiots.

      That doesn't make it any less horrifying. Remember back when employers

      • Re:The whole idea is stupid (Score:5, Insightful)

        by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Saturday August 27, 2016 @07:31PM (#52782991)

        They are not interested in looking at your posts. They are interested in looking at who your friends and connections are.

        • Non-Nefarious Reasons... (Score:4, Interesting)

          by SeattleLawGuy ( 4561077 ) on Saturday August 27, 2016 @10:24PM (#52783517)

          Generally I don't think they should be doing this because of the potential for abuse, but there actually *ARE* reasons why it could be used in ways which are not really privacy invasive.

          The Visa Waiver Program allows stays of up to 90 days. After 80 days, if you have not left the country they could use your social media for a friendly reminder. It might help someone who was going to overstay feel like someone is paying attention and that they have to follow the visa law, and reduce the number of people overstaying their stay in the United States.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by GNious ( 953874 )

            Not all points of exit are even ABLE to receive e.g. the I-94W slip, or note that you've now left the US - you'll end up spamming people who left the country, that it's time to get out.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by NotAPK ( 4529127 )

            "After 80 days, if you have not left the country they could use your social media for a friendly reminder."

            The immigration service of the US (and most other countries) does nothing to be helpful or friendly. The rules are as they are, and if you don't leave by 90 days then you will suffer the consequences. My understanding (not having experienced it myself) is that if a visitor is in breach of any visa requirements for the US (overstay, working, etc...) then they apply a lifetime ban on that person. Such c

            • That doesn't mean necessarily that the immigration service will have noticed you leaving--but all of this could easily be handled by asking for a reliable contact method for sending status notices to, which can & likely should be automated entirely. The notices should basically go out whenever the system registers a change in your status or you getting close to overstaying--and the last at least should include a way to contact them if there's a problem, such as "I can't leave the country in the next 10

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:The whole idea is stupid (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 27, 2016 @07:07PM (#52782903)

      Do they really think that if some ISIS guy flies in, he's going to fill out the customs form honestly and say "Yep, my Twitter handle is @jihad4lyfe!"

      They probably don't think that. They're dumb, but usually not quite that dumb.

      The real reason is it's a small step from being optional, to being required because terrorism / the children / murrica. Once it is required, then it establishes guaranteed guilt. If you do something else they don't like, you are by definition guilty of some other unrelated thing. "Mr Coward, it appears that you failed to disclose your 1998 GeoCities account to us on form 390124/b-52. Please come with us. We'd like to ask you some questions."

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by HiThere ( 15173 )

        And that would be quite annoying for me, because I don't have accounts on any of those services. Slashdot, yes, and a few other similar sites, but not "social media sites".

        • I don't have accounts on any of those services.

          I imagine that all by itself would make you a "person of interest".

      • What those questions are for, in practice, is to allow deportation. Lying on anything pertaining to coming into the country is grounds for deportation. Check the "I am not a member of a terrorist organization" and lie about it, and you can be deported without anything else being established, no matter how much time has passed.

        I had a next door neighbor (he lives elsewhere in the neighborhood now) who was a member of the Galician SS. When he came to the US in the late 40s, his papers said (among other

    • Tell the government (Score:4, Informative)

      by Kludge ( 13653 ) on Saturday August 27, 2016 @07:36PM (#52783009)

      Don't post here.
      Post here [regulations.gov]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jrumney ( 197329 )
      If they are that dumb, the current immigration forms already have a tick box that will identify them.

    • Do they really think that if some ISIS guy flies in, he's going to fill out the customs form honestly and say "Yep, my Twitter handle is @jihad4lyfe!"

      No, they probably think that he will refuse to give them a handle and then they will use this as grounds to detain him for interrogation. The problem is that some of us don't use Facebook, Twitter etc. and so I don't have an account to give them - other than a dummy Facebook account which is entirely devoid of any personal information and that I only created because our local airport used to insist on Facebook to access the free WiFi. However I expect this will look like I created a dummy account to hide m

    • Just standard government retardation.

      Much like hazmat endorsements now for truck drivers - get fingerprinted by the FBI and background checks ETC.... because apparently if a terrorist wanted to use a truck full of nasty shit in a plot they would get fully licensed, rather than just steal the damn truck.

      Completely and utterly useless? Does absolutely nothing for what it was intended to do? That's how the government is going to do it!

      • Three are actually some good reasons for providing a real ID and paper trail for hazmat truck drivers. Hamat disposal has often been simply _discarded_, dumped in open sewer drains or in inappropriate landfill, or dumped out at sea. The results have included medical refuse washing up on beaches and mercury in water supplies. Other hazmat materials have crashed and _leaked_ in residential areas where they were legally forbidden from travel. A basic ID and criminal check for handling such materials may exist

        • I know in some areas at least the hazmat endorsements also mean that you know what you're doing--as in, you can tell if your truck got properly loaded and marked before you pull out, and you know what the risks are for what you're doing.

          I'm not sure what actual benefit there is for people entering a country to share their social media accounts. It's bad security theater--especially since you'll get dummy accounts from the people it might be useful with and in general be sending an implicit but quite clear

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by GNious ( 953874 )

      Should be easy to determine...
      Upon entry into the US, papers (notably I-94W) require(s/d) that you mark specific checkboxes if you're a WW2 Nazi criminal, if you've have or plan to kidnap kids, If you're a terrorist, if you're sick or a drug-user.
      Now review how many ticked off that they are coming to the US to conduct terror, or to kidnap kids, and hold it up against the number of people caught coming to the US for the same reason.... this gives you a basis for how efficient this type of approach is.

    • Do they really think that if some ISIS guy flies in, he's going to fill out the customs form honestly and say "Yep, my Twitter handle is @jihad4lyfe!" It's preposterous to think this would be effective at gathering any sort of reasonable intelligence.

      Some of the current questions you have to answer and they apparently expect people to answer truthfully are:
      Are you are terrorist: [Yes] [No]
      Do you plan to detonate any bombs while visiting the US: [Yes] [No]
      Have you ever commited a crime: [Yes] [No]
      Are you planning to commit a crime while visting the US [Yes] [No]
      Etc.
      etc..

      So whoever is in charge of the questions asked of vistitors to the US ... REALLY ARE THAT STUPID

      • The people writing the questions aren't that stupid. You're missing the idea behind the questions.

        Lying on one of those forms is grounds for being thrown out of the country immediately, without further ado. If a visitor or immigrant does something perfectly legal (but suspicious) that contradicts any question on the form, the US government doesn't have to find any further excuse to get that person out.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by LQ ( 188043 )

      Do they really think that if some ISIS guy flies in, he's going to fill out the customs form honestly and say "Yep, my Twitter handle is @jihad4lyfe!" It's preposterous to think this would be effective at gathering any sort of reasonable intelligence.

      The USA citizenship application form has the question: "Have you ever advocated (either indirectly or directly) the overthrow of any government by force or violence?" I remember there used to be something similar on landing cards about overthrowing the US government. There are various apocryphal stories of wits writing "sole purpose of visit".

  • Gov't building database on US citizens (Score:5, Interesting)

    by QuietLagoon ( 813062 ) on Saturday August 27, 2016 @06:42PM (#52782821)
    If a foreign traveler is coming to the US for a visit, chances are that person will have some facebook, linkedin or other social media contacts who are US citizens.

    .
    So, in effect, this proposal results in the government building a database of US citizens. The government couldn't do that directly, so they go about it indirectly, i.e., using foreigners as the entry point into social media. From that entry point, they just follow the links and connections.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jedidiah ( 1196 )

      Government can already do that with technology that existed before 911. I would expect that the data aggregators have adapted with the times and can tell you what your social media identities are and who all of your real accomplices are.

  • So anyone without an account on any of the childish social media sites will be now regarded with suspicion?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by SirSlud ( 67381 )

      Good thing you're not childish. Man, it sounds like a lot of work for some people my age.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      If your entering the USA for any reason create a work account now. Import work ready emails going back years so it looks used. A few emails a week for a few years so sort by date looks good.
      If its social media, add your company coworkers that can be seen on any front page, homepage or have some publicity surrounding them.
      Thats your new travel web 2.0 social media.
      If asked for any other accounts say your company policy only allows the work accounts and they can be fully accessed.
      Compliance will allow

  • Land of the free... as long as you have Big Brother always watching you.
    We're not too far from two minutes of hate being implemented should Trump be elected anyways... more like 4 years of hate.

  • Obama admin facing grim realities (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    The combination of social media, open borders in Europe, and the Islamic extremism that is centuries old but whose recent spread was magnified by Bush, Blair, Obama, Merkel, and the other globalists has produced a situation in which very dangerous people are using social media to organize and plot very violent activities and the normal behind-the-scenes government-to-government info exchanges about travellers are not working. The countries from which many travellers are originating these days know very litt

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jedidiah ( 1196 )

      The remnants of the Ottoman empire can stop being at each other's throats but it's really all just the fault of the West. Ditto for the idea that that dreams of rebuilt empire are also all just the fault of the West.

      912 was the day that the last caliphate was defanged.

    • To run with your analogy. If one house burns down, you don't flood the entire city. Inside the US, the damage due to foreign terrorism is very small relative to other risks that we accept. We do not need extreme measures.

      This approach is also likely to result in a lot of false positives. These mistakes can actually increase the terrorism risk. Stories of Muslims denied entry to the US can increase the hatred and cultural divide that is feeding terrorism in the first place.

  • It's technically an 'optional' request

    See how loudly you can say I DECLINE TO PROVIDE THAT INFORMATION.

    Government always wants more power -- like every other organization and individual, if you put your Machiavellian cap on -- and tries out its new ideas with test runs like this.

    Push back and they will back off.

    Give in and bend over, and expect more of the same, except worse.

  • Stop visiting the US. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    You are only encouraging them.

    I stopped doing business requiring me to fly there back in 2004 because of INS/TSA abuse.

    Anyone who worries about their bank account before they worry about their freedom can go fuck themselves.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      Use a quality bespoke VPN or meet your US friends in a more tourist friendly and data friendly third party nation. Take the opportunity of a face to face meeting to set up a one time pad system :) A new novel to read while travelling or pages ready for code.
  • Just like encryption, just have a secondary generic/sparsely populated one for them to "find" and explore.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • And why do they need it? NSA unable to crack https?

      No need to 'crack' HTTPS when they have legal power over all the important Certificate Authorities. HTTPS is insecure to the US government by design.

  • Tough luck if you don't do social media (Score:5, Interesting)

    by melting_clock ( 659274 ) on Saturday August 27, 2016 @07:31PM (#52782993)

    It would make it difficult for those of us without a facebook, twitter, instagram, linkedin or google+ account... Not having these social media account means you cannot provide them which could be interpreted as a refusal to supply account information... Maybe not by a sane person but the people that make and enforce these rules are another story. That could complicate entry to the US by appearing suspicious and have the typical effect of harming the innocent while doing nothing to improve safety and security.

    I generally avoid social media because of privacy and security considerations. I do have memberships of many forums and discussion groups because they offer an acceptable level of privacy.

    • Eh, just get your own VPS and run fingerd

    • But you do have a Slashdot account. Is Slashdot social media? Fancy having an argument about whether it is and whether you should have declared it when you arrive at the border? I almost got deported on one visit to the US (and at that time I had a business visa) because I said I was planning to stay a "fortnight", a word the border agent apparently didn't understand and therefore assumed meant "as long as is necessary to overthrow the government". Giving them more scope to excercise their xenophobia seems

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by bazorg ( 911295 )

      It would make it difficult for those of us without a facebook, twitter, instagram, linkedin or google+ account

      Some people refuse completely to use social media; some are from an age group that does not care about social media; some use social media without connections to others, just for the purpose of logging in via FB rather than with user/pwd.

      Even if this kind of information request is presented as "not mandatory but you're in trouble if you say no", there has to be a practical way to get on with life without blocking the queue if the individual says "I don't use any of those any more"

  • No FB, no twitter, no snapchat, absolutely no accounts on "social media". Given the number of working neurons in your typical Homeland Security worker, that means I get the hammer to the kneecaps until I give up an account.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      Then the interview rooms get smaller and the interviews go on for hours. Better to have some work safe email account to show going back years.
      If asked for home account, say work demands you use their network at home but its free or very much discounted and one of the few really useful perks considering data caps in your nation...
      Keep the happy chat down flowing and be helpful, friendly. Body language training, voice, facial changes are a huge part of the US interview policy. Contractors make huge pr

    • No, it means you're subject to immediate deportation if you are found to have a Snapchat account.

  • The U.S. Government has rather quietly introduced some subtle language changes in certain questions, designed to help identify possible terrorists.

    Q: How long will you be staying in the Great Satan?

    Q: What is the primary purpose of your visit (pick one)?
    - Vacation / Pleasure
    - Work / Business
    - Slaughtering infidels

    Q: How fast can you disassemble and reassemble an AK-47?

  • welcome to Nazi Germany papers please!

  • How is this news? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I am a German citizen with a Turkish sounding last name and have been requested to provide my email used to login to Facebook and Twitter every time I entered the US in the last years. That is when they single me out at the border and immigration desk each time in the last five year, claim it is random, detain me for 45 minutes, 30 minutes of which is waiting for anything to happen, then ask the same questions each time such as: been traveling to Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq? Any friends there? Political affili

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Cederic ( 9623 )

      So turn it around on them. Tell them this silliness usually takes 30-45 minutes so can you have a comfy seat and a cup of coffee, they can run their checks and really isn't this a terribly waste of everybody's time.

  • Well, they lost me then, because I don't have any of those, I don't give away my privacy for connecting so somebody who had a locker beside me 30 years ago, I'm perfectly able to do that myself if I wanted to.

  • In the first place...

  • Right. Because there was still that one guy who kept coming back to the US for a holiday. Let's make sure that guy never comes back. He's a nuisance and takes away airline seats from everyone else who has no choice but to go to the US for some reason. Airline seats are scarce and precious. Let's keep them as empty as possible. To be fair I guess it does make their jobs easier to keep tourists away.

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